Hurrah! The Grenadier 4×4 could save Ford employees’ jobs

Ineos Automotive has announced that it will build its Grenadier 4×4 in Bridgend, South Wales, near to the site of the soon-to-be-closed Ford factory. It’ll creatr up to 500 jobs in the process.

“We have been looking at the locations for quite some time in Europe and beyond,” said CEO Dirk Heilmann.

“But we made the decision to build from scratch so that we could create an environment that is fit-for-purpose for our product. We had decided that even before Ford announced the Bridgend closure, but we will certainly have a look at former Ford employees.”

Ford announced earlier this year that its Engine Plant in South Wales would close in 2020, putting the jobs of the 1,700 employees at risk. The news of Ineos’ arrival and £600m investment will provide a welcome boost to the area, though, and work has already started on the new facility.

“We’ve broken ground,” said Mark Tennant, Commercial Director of Ineos Automotive. “We’ve got lots of diggers running about because we’re looking to bring the Grenadier to market in 2021. What we’ve always said, from Jim Ratcliffe’s comments right at the beginning, is that Ineos is a British company and so the desire was always to build in the UK.”